Chapter 43
HOW BROTHER CONRAD OF OFFIDA CONVERTED A YOUNG BROTHER WHO BOTHERED THE OTHER BROTHERS. AND HOW THAT SAME YOUNG BROTHER, WHEN HE WAS DYING APPEARED TO THE SAME BROTHER CONRAD, BEGGING HIM TO PRAY FOR HIM; AND HOW HE FREED HIM FROM THE GREAT PAINS OF PURGATORY

The same Brother Conrad of Offida was an admirable zealot of evangelical poverty and of the Rule of Saint Francis, and was of such religious life and such merit before God that the blessed Christ honored him with many miracles in life and in death.

Among these, one time he had come as a guest to the place at Offida, and the brothers asked him for the love of God and charity to admonish a young brother who was in that place, who was acting childishly, and was so rowdy and dissolute that he disturbed both the old and the young of that family, and he cared little or nothing about the Divine Office and other observances of the Rule. So Brother Conrad, because of compassion for that young man and the pleading of the brothers, one day called the young man to one side. With fervent charity he spoke such effective and devout words of instruction to the young man that by the work of divine grace he became, as a boy, an old man in his way of living, so obedient and kind and concerned and devout, and also so peaceable, so ready to serve, and so zealous for everything virtuous, that just as before the whole family was upset by him, now they were all content with him and consoled, and they loved him deeply.

As it pleased God, it happened that a few days after his conversion, that same young man died, which made those same brothers grieve. And a few days after his death, his soul appeared to Brother Conrad, who was praying devoutly in front of the altar of that same friary; and devoutly greeted him as a father. Brother Conrad asked him: "Who are you?" And the answer was: "I am the soul of that young brother who died in these days." And Brother Conrad said: "How are you, my dearest son?" He replied: "Dearest Father, by the grace of God and your teaching, I am well because I am not damned; but because of some sins of mine I did not have time to purge adequately, I am bearing the great pains of Purgatory. But I beg you, Father, that just as in your mercy you helped me when I was alive, so now please help me in my sufferings by saying some Our Fathers for me, because your prayers are very acceptable in the sight of God." Then Brother Conrad, kindly assenting to his prayers, said one Our Father with the "Requiem aeternam," and that soul said: "O dearest

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